The House of Usher | Poetry inspired by Edgar Allan Poe

This poem is a fun experiment on one of my favorite Gothic short stories. The “Fall of the House of Usher” is a fascinating read and tells a macabre tale of Roderick and Madeline Usher, set against the backdrop of a dilapidated mansion, generational curses and an ill-fitting atmosphere. This poem has been written from the perspective of village folks who are all too familiar with the familial past, the nameless illness that befell the descendants and the troubled end of the line of Ushers that many deemed to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Unnamed maladies lie within these walls
of the mahogany carved rich stately halls;
the marble stones now chipped and gray;
perpetual shade of night, absence of day;
its grim dark decorum, one cannot allay;
and inside no lone wanderer would stray!

Very little about the inhabitants are known,
the moon looks in through dents in stone;
grappling with centuries of appalling lores,
curious onlookers dare not enter its doors.
If the rumors afloating are to be believed
many hear chilling voices of an aggrieved.

Sunless mornings herald no song of birds,
no sound of visitors, no footfalls are heard;
the drawing bridge is weakened and worn
the familial banners are dampish and torn.
Where is Sir Roderick? Hardly anyone knew;
no sign of Lady Madeline for a week or two.

 ****

One still and silent night, a man walked in,
a bold visitor, a friend of the Ushers or kin -
who knew what beings had held him there,   
crazed and horror struck; he would swear -

coffin bound Madeline was alive and living!
Her disheveled form was revenge seeking!
 
Big stones were seen falling off from halls,
heavy fissures were widening in the walls:
wild screams echoed throughout the wood;
the events of the night went ununderstood.
Most potent of all curses had come to pass,
bringing an end to the line of Ushers at last.

An accident, a mishap, a prophecy of yore?
The damned house of Usher is now no more.

© Copyright: Leah Chrestien. July 2024.  The post ‘The House of Usher’ first appeared on The Ecstatic Storyteller. The author reserves the right to the content. No reproduction of content in any form is permitted without the prior consent of the author.